Child of Destiny

...…

Shing!

'Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw: World Splitter'

Swoosh!

All of the 'Shin' surrounding Caelum turned into a streak of light before simultaneously charging at him from every direction.

Due to how realistic all of the afterimages that Shin had created, Caelum was unable to find the real body was coming from. And because of that, he couldn't do anything when the streaks of lights flew past him, creating a net of crisscrossing lines around him.

(-12,229,512)

Even though that skill looked so powerful due to the illusion that Shin created, its damage was still not as strong as the previous skill that he had used earlier since there was only one real attack from this attack.

Moreover, the previous skill Shin was a single-target skill, so its damage was naturally stronger than this skill which was an AOE skill.

But it also didn't mean that it was powerful. Its massive damage alone was proof of that.

Though, at the same time, Shin seemed to be a little unsatisfied with his current performance since he felt that he could still do better.

Hu~!

"Too bad, I am already getting exhausted," Shin still wanted to continue exploring what he could do with the sword movements that the 'Jade Kirin Scripture' had, but he was, unfortunately, feeling the metal fatigue already.

Being in trance earlier put a lot of burden on his mind which he immediately felt right after he got out of that state.

He took a deep breath to keep his focus and get ready for another round. He might be exhausted right now, but it didn't mean that his opponent would give him time to rest, so all he could do was continue fighting.

On top of that, Caelum still had a huge Health Bar that they needed to empty.

Fortunately, he was not alone – Ara and Alucard could also deal as much damage as they could while he was keeping Caelum busy. And it seemed to be working pretty well so far.

Given that and his current state, Shin had to slow down the pace of the battle for the time being. At least, until he was able to recover a little from his exhaustion. Or also until their reinforcements arrived.

The battle continued and Shin tried to stick on their opponent as close as possible, not letting Caelum pull any big moves at them.

But since he needed to put as much pressure as possible on their opponent, the fatigue that Shin was suffering was constantly getting worst. This cost him to commit a couple of blunders during the battle.

Arthur wanted to lend Shin a hand but his hands were currently tied to protecting Ara and Alucard from the powerful attacks that Caelum was sending them.

Fortunately, those two marksmen were fully aware of their roles and perfectly supported Shin whenever he was forced into a corner. They were not focusing on dealing with the damage and instead support Shin with their skills so that he could escape those predicaments.

…

"Sh*t!" Shin couldn't help but curse out loud when he was about to use one of his skills.

It was because of the sudden headache that assaulted his head when he was about to execute the skill. The headache was so strong that it made him kneel on the ground while holding his head with one of his hands.

"Ugh!"

Naturally, Caelum would not let that opportunity slip away from him. He quickly nocked an arrow on his bow and pointed it at Shin, preparing for a powerful shot that could kill Shin in an instant.

He didn't even bother to get away from Shin to make sure that he would not be wasting a time and guarantee this attack to land. 𝙛𝐫e𝚎wℯ𝗯𝒏𝗼ѵ𝙚l.𝒄o𝚖

Ara and Alucard would also be making their moves at that time. They quickly fired consecutive shots at Caelum to stop him from firing an arrow at Shin.

Unfortunately for them, Caelum was already expecting that to happen which was why he had set up a wind barrier around him that warded off the incoming arrows and magic bullets from the duo.

Arthur wanted to sprint to Shin and protect him at that time but he knew that it was already too for him to stop that attack since he was way too far to stop it in time.

But before all of the hopes were gone, Arthur felt a pair of powerful presences arrive at the scene. And when he recognized who they were, he couldn't help but release a sigh of relief.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

At the same time, Caelum also sensed the arrival of two new people in the field. He wanted to continue attacking Shin but he also knew that he would be trapped within the encirclement of his opponent if he insisted on staying.

Moreover, his slight hesitation already gave Shin enough time to set up a defensive barrier that would further buy him enough time until two newcomers came and aided him.

'Jade Kirin Scripture: (Technique Application) Eclipse Pulse'

Left with no other choice, Caelum was forced to cancel his skill and distance himself away from Shin. Now that there were two more additional opponents for him to deal with, he could no longer continue with his current style.

Whoosh!

Clank! Clang! Clank!

But while he was trying to distance himself away from Shin, he suddenly discovered that he was currently surrounded by black chains that shot up from the ground, circling around him and covering every possible escape route that could take.

Faker, who was the first to arrive, pulled the chains with a slight tug of his hands and made them wrap around Caelum's body.

But as a powerful NPC-turned-monster, Caelum calmly stared at the black chains rapidly closing at him before kicking the ground and sending him up in the air, narrowly escaping their encirclement.

He might have escaped from the clutches of those chains with these movements, but he also made himself vulnerable to that position. And naturally, Ara and Alucard would not miss that chance and started firing at him without holding back.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A valley of arrows and magic bullets immediately greeted Caelum right after he jumped in the air.

He was supposedly an easy target in that situation, but to the surprise of the group, Caelum skillfully dodged each bullet and arrow in the air by twisting and spinning his body air, only letting a couple of them slightly graze his body which only caused almost negligible damage.

But despite that being the case, the others didn't look disappointed. Those attacks might have failed to deal considerable damage but they already brought enough time for Zero to arrive near Caelum and threw a skill of his own.

'Divine Swordsmanship: Splitting the Heaven and Earth'

Zero didn't hold back at the first sword technique that he used as he went straight to one of the strongest moves that he currently had from his arsenal.

Swoosh!

Caelum could feel how strong that attack was and made him wear a solemn expression on his face. He could also tell that this particular skill was much stronger than the skill that Shin had used against him earlier.

Realizing that he couldn't let himself get hit by this attack, Caelum was forced to use one of his instantaneous movement skills.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind suddenly gathered under his feet, letting him walk in the air for a brief moment. And with its help, he was able to escape such a dangerous predicament with ease.

But right after the duration of that skill ended, when he was about to touch the ground once again, he discovered Shin lying in wait below him and getting ready to throw his skill.

Instead of maintaining the common sword-drawing stance, Shin straight while holding his sheathed sword vertically. He then raised his other arm over his head while his hand was firmly holding the hilt of the sword.

He patiently waited for Caelum to start falling towards the ground before swiftly unsheathing the sword and strongly swinging it vertically.

The tip of the sword drew a beautiful arc in the air. It left a glowing trail on its path which created an image of a crescent light in the air.

'Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw: Flash Crescent'

Seeing that Shin had perfectly timed the attack, there was no way for Caelum to dodge it, especially when was already descending toward the ground.

Fortunately, he was not an ordinary opponent that could easily be caught by such an attack.

Before the tip of the sword could hit him, Caelum quickly adjusted his body in the air and turned upside-down. And quickly after that, he pointed his bow toward the ground and released a powerful shot immediately after.

He then used the strong recoil from that attack to send himself back high in the air and escape yet another predicament.

Roar!

But at the same time, the corner of his eyes caught a glimpse of a golden dragon flying in his direction with its mouth widely opened.

Arthur decided to join Shin and the others and left Ara and Alucard behind.

Now that they had four people pressing on Caelum and attacking from different directions, he would no longer have the time to pay attention to those two. Moreover, these four gods could also cover those two marksmen by preventing the Archer King from getting a clear view of them.

With a quick flip, Caelum re-adjusted his position in the air and faced the incoming dragon before drawing a beautiful arc with his bow.

The loaded arrow was suddenly set ablaze by a blue flame as he pointed it at the golden dragon. And when the accumulation of power reached its peak, Caelum released the arrow and sent it to greet the incoming attack.

Swoosh!

Boom!

A deafening explosion immediately followed after the collision of the two powers and sent a violent ripple in the air.

Caelum took advantage of that violent wind and ride it to increase his distance away from his current position.

But despite his efforts, he still found himself surrounded by four people from different directions right after his feet landed on the ground.

"Tsk! Looks like I can no longer test their strengths with my current powers," muttered Caelum to himself after sweeping his gaze over the four people surrounding him.

He then took a brief pause before adding with a helpless tone. "I guess I have no choice but to rely on the power of the curse cast on us."

...…